


Forsaken Sons

by firefright



Series: Talon and the Hood [3]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Biting, Dick Grayson is a Talon, Jason recruits some help after returning to gotham, M/M, Talon!Dick/Jason Todd, rooftop makeouts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 14:10:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4567497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefright/pseuds/firefright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Batman lost two sons. Neither of them are resting peacefully.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forsaken Sons

**Author's Note:**

> Because Talon!Dick and Jaybird would be a force to be reckoned with.
> 
> A one-shot for now but I may add more to this universe later.

Jason has made a lot of questionable choices in his life, both lives. Some good, some bad; others somewhere in-between both of those extremes that even years of retrospection and hindsight haven't given him a clear judgement on.

This though... this takes the cake, or biscuit, or insert your preferred baked good analogy here. He'll blame Alfred for that one.

The teeth currently set in his neck worry a little deeper, a little harder; like their owner is sensing how his thoughts are wandering and is less than appreciative of that fact. Jason for his part lets out a regrettably embarrassing groan as he once more fruitlessly attempts to push the culprit off him.

It's been too long since they last saw each other, and truth be told he's been waiting ever since he came back to Gotham to be pounced upon, hoping that the other man would still be around after all this time. Hoping that he hadn't somehow forgotten him during the intervening years since now and then; the way he'd forgotten so many other things. "Shit, Christ!"

"Shh, little bird." Teeth let go of his neck, replaced by the hot sweep of tongue over what Jason feels is a bleeding wound, and he _glares_ up at the Talon on top of him, snorting with extra offence tonight at that old nickname. 

Well okay, admittedly he didn't always find it so offensive, but the time between then and now was divided by a very sharp and painful line, marked by high-pitched laughter and the meaty thud of a crowbar against his teenage body. He isn't a teenager anymore though, not where it matters. "Cut that out."

Above him Talon raises a perfectly visibly eyebrow - he'd taken off his gaudy eye-wear at the start of this - and shakes his head. "But I thought you missed me? I missed you, little bird." He smiles a little wider, a little sharper, "Little Rob--"

"Don't!" Jason's snapping before he can complete the rest of the word, "Don't fucking call me that, Talon. I'm not Goddamned Robin anymore, you got that?!" _No more than you are. ___

He knows he should be more afraid of this man. The deadly, beautiful man above him, but he's not. After all they're two of a kind, two dead lost sons, both failures of the Batman. They're not the precious Replacement that Jason had learned of out of the grave, or the demon blood son that Talia doesn't think he remembers from when he was an almost-vegetable living under her wing that could only be brought to life only by violence. No. They're the lost ones, the regrets. The failures that the Big Bad Bat tries so hard to forget about.

They're the one's he couldn't save.

"He died." he hisses up at Talon again, willing him to understand. _We died_. And both of them came back wrong.

Talon, who was once Dick Grayson, shakes his head reproachfully, looking down at Jason like he's a misguided child (and in some ways, he supposes, that's not inaccurate). "Jason," and that's a little better to hear his actual name spoken by the brainwashed assassin he's never really known as anyone else. 

Dick Grayson had been gone and supposedly buried by the time Bruce Wayne took in a misguided street kid, trained him to be a vigilante and stuffed him into a dead boy's brightly coloured costume. Jason had never met him in that life, only grown in his shadow, trying desperately to live up to the reputation the first Robin had made in Gotham's streets before him. And despite his best efforts he'd never really felt like he succeeded -- certainly not where it counted in dear old dad's eyes.

Sometimes, back before he died, he'd tried to communicate that to his lost brother, like some unknown punk kid could have a chance to bring the humanity back to the assassin where the Bat had failed. It didn't work, of course. They wouldn't be here like this if it did.

What it _had_ done was focus the Talon's attention sharply on the bright little bird that chased him into the shadows, and the rest, as they said, was history.

Now that he's older (and even back then) he can't really complain at managing to bag himself a crazy one, not when Jason's been reforged in a way that makes them a matching set in that department. He likes to think he understands Dick Grayson a little better than anyone else out there living, and taking on Gotham's underworld sounds a lot more plausible when you've got your very own assassin watching your back.

" _Jason_."

Talon - Dick's voice draws him back to the present with another application of teeth to his neck despite his protests, sounding almost sulky at the idea of being ignored. His eyes are bright and intelligent, full of life and it makes Jason wonder sometimes.

The Court of Owls as an organisation is gone, done and destroyed, but their last Talon remains, moving through the world by his own creed. Maybe it's not that Dick Grayson is dead but that he subconsciously can't face remembering who he was in the wake of who he's become; maybe he's protecting himself in some way. It's a foolish hope, a boy's hope and Jason pushes it down. All he's ever had is with Talon and it feels wrong now to keep looking for the ghost of the first Robin in him.

He'll leave that to Bruce.

"I'm gonna fix it." he whispers finally, staring up into those blue eyes, blue stained by gold bleeding in around the irises. "I'm going to fix it. I'm going to make him see, Talon, see how wrong he is."

Dick's head cocks and he looks to the side, to the duffel bag of heads that Jason had collected earlier that evening. Soon enough he'll be going to the meeting he's arranged between Gotham's top drug runners and scaring the shit out of some scumbags into working for him. That's step one.

Jason swallows and keeps talking, "It can't keep going like this, it _can't_. He's not winning, he's not a cure. He's just a band-aid, a temporary fix for the rot. He failed me, he - he failed _you_ , and now he's got another kid in my place and if I don't make him see it'll just keep happening over and over again, like a broken record."

Talon says nothing.

"I have to do this!" his voice rises and whether he's trying to convince himself or Talon, Jason doesn't know. "There's only way to make this right. I'm going to take control of this city and I'm going to kill the fucking clown, the way he should have years ago. The way he should have after I died." Losing one Robin was a tragedy, two was unforgivable. "I need... I need _you_. I'm sorry I was gone but I need you, if you'll help me."

He'd be lying if he said his voice didn't crack a little on that last part. Dick's the first person from his old life he's had contact with since coming back and it hits him with a rush how very badly he missed him. Which sounds insane, but hey, it probably is. No one could call what they had before or what they might have now healthy, not even Jason. He just doesn't give a shit.

"I thought about killing him when he came back with you in that box." 

Jason can't help but stare up at him when he says that. "... why didn't you?"

"I..." Talon frowns, his face is marred by what was done to turn him into what he is, but he's still beautiful to Jason. "I couldn't. I couldn't, I don't know why. I should have."

"No." His heartbeat is thundering in his chest at the revelation, "He's not the one who killed me, he tried to save me." It's a point: he's not mad about Bruce because he failed to save Jason, he's mad at him because of what he didn't do after. "What Batman needs, what this city needs, is to be shown that's there only one way to deal with monsters like the Joker and the Owls."

Talon's hands tighten around Jason's wrists at the mention of his former masters, his mouth becoming a thin down turned line. He'd killed some of them Jason knows, at least the ones that he could find and that Bruce didn't get locked away in time. _That's _what makes him believe that Dick will be on his side. He knows he'll understand where Bruce won't.__

"Please."

There's a beat, a moment of stillness that seems to stretch eternal, and then Talon's leaning down, smashing his mouth against Jason's in a kiss that can't be called anything but brutal. Jason responds to it at once, parting his mouth and arching back up into him. They kiss like it's a battle to be won; lips, teeth and tongue, and though he comes away panting with the taste of his own blood in his mouth, it's every bit as thrilling as he remembers from being fifteen and completely out of his depth.

"After," Talon tells him, so close that their mouths brush with every word, "you'll stay with me this time. You don't get to leave me again."

It's not a hardship to agree to that, all Jason has ever wanted is to belong and have someone who cares for him without compromise. Before he had Bruce, but going back to him now would mean leaving behind the mission he's taken on himself and that's one thing he just can't do. "No more. I'll be yours, you'll be mine. We'll show Gotham the right way, together." 

"Together." Talon pulls back and rubs his thumb over the blood on Jason's lip, pressing into the cut his teeth left hard enough to make the mark sting anew. From there he traces his fingers down over Jason's jaw, finding the bites he left on his neck and pressing into them too. Each one feels like a claim, like ownership without question and Jason has to resist the urge to preen under the attention.

There'll be time for that later, right now he has something he needs to do.

"Want to come help me scare the crap out of some bad guys, Talon? I'll explain the rest of the plan to you after." The smile he receives is sharp in response, Dick's teeth white in the darkness, and for a moment Jason feels all of fifteen years old again. It's thrilling beyond belief.

"Lead the way, little bird." Talon peels himself off of Jason, and it's weird to stand afterwards, realising that he's grown a couple inches taller than the man who'd always seemed to loom over him before.

Jason doesn't hesitate to pick his helmet back up from where it had been thrown when they crashed down onto the roof together, "It's Red Hood now, just so you know."

"Red Hood." Talon considers the name for a moment, looking like it's left a bad taste in his mouth. "I don't like it." but he's already sliding his goggles back onto his face.

"That's okay," Jason's not upset by the judgement, not at all. He's using Red Hood specifically because he knows how it'll ping the Bat's attention. "we'll call it a work in progress. I can think of something better later." After this job is done.

Helmet on and covering the bites that Talon has left on him, Jason turns and picks up the duffel bag, swinging it onto his shoulder before turning to head for the warehouse where his captive audience is waiting. He's confident even without looking that Dick will follow, melting into the shadows like a ghost and ready to spring back out when he needs him.

Jason can't stop himself from grinning under the helmet as he jumps forwards across the rooftops, swinging over a city - _his city_ \- that's just as familiar to him as breathing. 

Yeah, he's got a good feeling about this.


End file.
